Skin graft meshers are designed to incise and "mesh" a piece of skin prior to grafting in order to allow it to expand and cover a larger area than its donor site area. The large number of incisions offer a good drainage to exudate from the recipient site but may leave, after healing and complete epithelialization, a typical "mesh" pattern that is directly dependent on the incisions size and on the pattern. The skin grafts may be meshed into several mesh ratios according to needs, available skin, functional, and aesthetic considerations. The commonest ratios are 1:1.5 and 1:3, and different cutting devices and systems are available respectively.
The length and width of the meshed skin graft is limited to the available carrier's dimensions, usually 30.times.10 cms. The old type meshing devices (U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,242) includes a planar skin graft cutter.
The typically modern up-to-date meshing system includes a mesher containing cutting drum (roller) and skin graft carriers. The carriers are compatible only to the specific mesher. Thus, in order to have the entire range of meshing ratios, one should keep "meshing systems" that include stocks of different skin graft carriers with the compatible mesher or different ratio cutting drums or meshers with compatible carriers. (U.S. Pat, Nos. 5,004,468 and 5,219,352)
Conventionally the meshing work is done by cranking a long ratchet or a crank which demands rather strenuous work by the nurse or the surgeon and interferes with the fine control of the extruded skin graft, as at least two people are needed to operate the mesher and to control the skin graft.
The adjustable mesher of the present invention solves the aforementioned disadvantages associated with the meshing of skin. The adjustable mesher offers in a single skin mesher all of the range of skin meshing ratios. The adjustable mesher omits the stocks of different skin graft carriers. It may accommodate any existing carrier or cutting board or it can be used without a carrier at all. Furthermore the adjustable mesher can mesh skin in both powered and manual modes of operation, and is easy to operate.